January 23rd, 2006

I don’t really know where to start. It looks like I’ve gotten out of the habit of blogging. Well, that’s not totally true. I compose blog entries in my head all the time. They just rarely seem to make it to the site. Something falls through between my thoughts and the execution. It never quite gets done. That says something to me, but I don’t know what. Maybe it’s try harder, or maybe it’s your dedication to this is not sufficient just let it go. I’ve got a lot to say, and I’ve got a lot on my mind, and it would probably be good to run through some things on paper, so to speak, which is one of the things I use this blog for.

Mostly I have a thousand tabs open, jumping off points for conversations that I’m less and less likely to engage in as time wears on. Stuff like how cool I think it is that Bolivia has an indigenous elected leader, and how I hope Evo Morales will succeed in dragging his country out of poverty. Everything I read about him makes me hopeful and happy. Or how much this Shakespearean version of the Hokey Pokey made me laugh. I could tell you how long I spent thinking about Federico Garcia Lorca after I was given a book of his poems by a poet and friend who thought I would appreciate them. I translated one, as an exercise. That always makes me think about the differences between Spanish and English. Like how aletear is a better word than flutter. It says more. I could explain how frustrating it is to reach for the better word in composition and find that it’s not in the language you are writing. Or I might give you a month late warning about dog food that’s been recalled and that has killed over a hundred dogs. Maybe I could point you to this thoughtful and succint summary, by the always wise slacktivist, of the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. You won’t bring up that it was written over a month ago, will you? Or we could get into a personal account of how one of my all time favorite comics, Animal Man, turned one person into a vegetarian.

Links is a weak way to get back into it, though, isn’t it? Would it be better if I told you something personal? Like how I’m starting to recover from the dark of midwinter? Each day brings a little more daylight and a little more energy into my life. Observe. Not that I live in Greece or have a view like this one or anything, but more daylight makes me feel like I might. Perhaps you’d like to hear about my printer, the one that died the final death in that last two weeks. I thought it was aged, but it turns out the thing is downright ancient. Close investigation by my husband uncovered an archived email about this selfsame printer in 1996. We may have gotten it in 1995. I thought the thing was six or seven years old which would have been sufficient. Turns out the poor thing has been working for a decade. True, it was not at its best the last six or so months. It will be nice not to have to cajole printouts. This lovely (you know, if by lovely you mean sappy) eulogy for our printer was written by my friend Legomancer. The new printer has not yet arrived but is on its way. Lack of printing ability has put a small (but temporary) kink in my plan to print and send things out (which is one of the things I want to do better this year than last). There’s also TV in our house again. As in, a service that gives channels which I can tune in to and watch things on. No longer is the television a mere vehicle to show DVD’s and display Gamecube games. Does anyone want to tell me what show I ought to be watching on this thing? I haven’t any idea where to even start, and the channel guide is overwhelming and mysterious. Only recommend the best possible thing I could be watching, please, as I haven’t the patience for more than one show.

Oh yeah, and have I mentioned my entire family is here from Argentina? All of them! There’s ten of us, can you believe it?

So. Is it too late for New Year’s Resolutions?

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